Reflections on an Old Flame
by Tyrmer
Summary: The Doctor reflects on an old flame whilst Rose is out. Set just after The Xmas Invasion. Please R&R. My first ever fic actually. I hope its ok... I know this used to say One Shot but a minisequel is now under development.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story yada yada yada, I don't own the series Dr Who, yada yada yada. Etc etc unlimited rice pudding (hehe, neither do I own that quote)!

The Doctor leans against the TARDIS console in the control room waiting for Rose to get back from her Mother's, absent mindedly he reaches into one of the inner pockets of his coat and pulls out a small black disc with a carving on it. He starts to flip it from his right hand to his left hand and rub it betweens his fingers.

He had been young and foolish then, not knowing what he was doing. Though he would never have admitted to being so, or not knowing anything, least of all something in the realm of the day-to-day business of a primitive civilisation. Perhaps there was something in it, or perhaps it really had all been a dreadfully embarrassing mistake. She had been so intelligent, and wise. Old with wisdom yet young at heart, like him she had known love and loss and had withdrawn in the ashes, only to be rekindled by one like her.

Those cocoa beans had been a simple thing to turn into a delicious drink, not knowing that they could be turned to bitter use in the breaking of the heart of a friend lost. He couldn't have stayed with her if he wanted to, not forever; but he could have lingered a while. He could have stayed until in the passing of time she had faded, like the one before her, but it would have hurt too much.

She couldn't be much more different this time, eager to learn everything there is to learn, so full of energy to keep going from place to place, seeing all there is to see, so young that she could be shown so much in the time allotted to her. But nothing lasts forever, not even a Time Lord. He himself didn't have long left now.

"What's that Doctor?" Rose asks as she slips into the ship unnoticed by the Doctor in his musings.

"Oh, nothing. Just something I picked up from my travels." He lies. "A long, long time ago."

"So are we going to go then?" She pesters.

"Going?" He mutters. Yes he shouldn't have gone, he should have stayed, but there would have been nothing for him eventually.

"Hello? Mr Daydreamer? Are you going to take me to Barcelona or not?" She calls in one ear, half expecting it to come reverberating out the other and around the seemingly infinite lengths of corridor in the TARDIS.

He puts the coin reverently back in his coat pocket. "Ah yes, Barcelona." He mutters.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story yada yada yada, I don't own the series Dr Who, yada yada yada. Etc etc unlimited rice pudding (hehe, neither do I own that quote)!

The T.A.R.D.I.S spins in time, rotating a small blue sun whilst its occupants sleep. Well, one of its occupants…

The Doctor paced around the central console, thinking over the events of today's adventure. Rose had been instantly smitten with the people of Barcelona; "No you can't keep them." He had said to her when she was mobbed by a litter of pup-kids who had escaped their mother. She had been tired out by running with the pack for hours through the open plains and grasslands and had promptly fallen asleep as soon as he got her back to the T.A.R.D.I.S.

She was lying on the bench next to the console with the Doctor's jacket over her. It was a good job she didn't snore, he thought, that would be almost unbearable as he watched… No, he wasn't watching her he told himself; he was merely having a momentary break from tinkering with the T.A.R.D.I.S' console. He shook his head and pulled the coin out of his pocket, rubbing it thoughtfully. He had only known Cameca for two, maybe three days but she had left a lasting impression, the normally detached persona of his first incarnation had only just managed to drag himself away from her, and only then because his and his companion's lives had been in danger. He had meant to leave the coin in the tomb where it had come from, but he couldn't. He couldn't bring himself to leave it behind him in that dusty tomb to be stolen years later by the Spanish Conquistadors. He took it with him, and kept it close through all his regenerations, his companions had never asked what lay at the bottom of his deep pockets, and it was the one thing he never turned over the numerous times he was arrested. He looked to where Rose was sleeping. He couldn't bring himself to admit it even to himself, but he was starting to feel at home with her. More so than he had with any of his other companions, more so than he had ever felt. He looked from Rose to the coin, and from the coin back to Rose. It was the same feeling he had felt all those years ago, a wonderful, blissful, blinding desire to stay or at least, if to jump, then not to jump alone.

Rose shivered and the coat fell off onto the floor. The Doctor moved round the console and picked it up. He spread it over Rose and tucked it under the seat so it wouldn't fall off. He hadn't tucked anyone in since Susan, he thought to himself. That sent him spiralling back to before he had even started travelling with Susan. He had met her at the Academy on Galifrey. She had been so beautiful, so wise; he had been so very much in love with her. They married after the Academy and had one child, a daughter. They named her Gaia, it was just a sentimental name from her, she had found a very backward planet in the past somewhere and enjoyed it so much she hardly wanted to leave. Gaia was their primitive name for their planet. He laughed; at the time she had found it they had thought it was a disc, little did he know he would end up loving it more than any other planet, including his own. Their daughter had one child herself; she called it Susan, a name from her namesake. He had taken care of her after the accident…

He suddenly felt a hand touch his, which brought him out of his memories and made him jump. Rose had reached out in her sleep and grasped his hand, he managed to extricate himself but to his horror, he realised Rose was now holding coin. He could see no way of getting it back without waking her, and before he had thought beyond that, she had rolled over and hugged it to her.

He went back to tinkering with the console. In a few hours Rose woke up, she bounced up off the bench and handed the Doctor his coat. "This is yours I believe Doctor." She said, grinning from ear to ear. She suddenly looked puzzled, and looked down to her hand. Unfurling it she found she was holding a small coin with a strange symbol on it. "Isn't this yours too Doctor?" She asked him.

"Not anymore apparently." He replied wistfully.

"I can have it? Wow. It's so pretty." She popped it in her jeans pocket and smiled. "So where are we off to next then? The planet of Milan, or Rome?" She smiled her impish smile. She had a lovely smile the Doctor thought to himself; before mentally shaking himself. "Central America." He announced.

"What? Ooh I can get a tan there, we should stop off and get mum she's always wanted to go somewhere sunny."

"I don't do domestics remember." The Doctor replied.


End file.
